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Psalms 90:1-17

A Matter of Life and Death

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Psalms 90:1-17

A Matter of Life and Death

Dr. Philip W. McLarty

Psalm 90 is one of the most well-known psalms of the Psalter. You often hear it at funeral services. That’s because it speaks so poignantly of the limits of our mortal lives and of the timeless dimension of God’s power and love.

What you may not know is that it’s thought to have originated from the lips of Moses. That makes it the oldest of the psalms, dating back some 3,000 years or more.

As we listen more closely to the words of this psalm, I’d like for you to imagine the setting: Moses and people of Israel out in the wilderness. It would be forty long years before they reached the Promised Land. Almost all of those who were part of the Exodus would die along the way, including Moses’ sister, Miriam, and his brother, Aaron.

It was an arduous journey fraught with pain, and it taught Moses two things: The frailty of life and the sovereignty of God. It gave him a healthy perspective on the temporal nature of this world compared to the eternal nature of God.

My hope is we’ll adopt that perspective for ourselves. As I hope you’ll see: It’s a matter of life and death. The psalm begins,

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place
for all generations.” (Psalm 90:1)

When Moses speaks of the Lord as our dwelling place, he’s talking about a relationship, not a particular location. That’s hard for us to grasp. We like to think of a dwelling place as something tangible and concrete – a structure with a physical address.

And yet, where you dwell is not necessarily the same as where you live. It’s where your heart is, where your passions lie – which may be different from where you are at the moment.

You’ve all seen the bumper stickers that say: “I’d rather be … fishing … flying … skiing … swimming … scuba diving … golfing … quilting,” … or some other hobby. You may be working at a desk or driving a truck, but your heart is high atop a mountain peak or lounging beside a quiet stream. That’s where you’d rather be.

If you were to pick out a bumper sticker for your car today, what would it say? What would you rather be doing? Where would you rather be? In what direction do your thoughts and dreams and fantasies lead you?

It’s no crime to want to be somewhere else; just understand, it’s a pretty good indication of where your heart is, of where you dwell.

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Out in the desert, moving from place to place, the people of Israel lived in tents. They didn’t have the luxury of comfortable homes. They lived, more or less, in the open. As such, they spent a lot of time with the Lord. They looked to God to give them manna from heaven and water from the rock; they depended on God to protect them from predators and warring tribes; they prayed to God to shield them from disease and natural disaster.

They walked by faith for so long that walking by faith became their way of life. What difference did it make where they were? All that mattered was that God was with them, leading the way. And so, Moses prayed,

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place for all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
before you had formed the earth and the world,
even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God” (Psalm 90:1-2).

The more your dwelling place is the Lord – the more your thoughts and feelings and passions are rooted in Christ – his words, his example, his Spirit at work within you – the more likely you are to experience the fullness of life in any given moment of time. Moses goes on to say:

“You turn man to destruction….
You sweep them away as they sleep.
In the morning they sprout like new grass.
In the morning it sprouts and springs up.
By evening, it is withered and dry” (Psalm 90:3, 5-6)

How long do you think you’ll live? What is your life expectancy?

One day in seminary, Dr. Elliot made this statement: “Most people have a pretty good idea of how old they’ll be when they die, and the likely cause of death.”

He was a psychologist. He taught Pastoral Care and Counseling. Sure enough, he went around the room and asked every student to say how old he thought he’d be when he died, and what the cause of death would be. Some predicted a fairly short lifespan, dying of cancer or a heart attack, because that ran in their family; others predicted a ripe old age, because that ran in their family.

Someone once said, “The secret of longevity is to have old parents.” How long do you think you’ll live? I can tell you this – you won’t live forever. Moses said,

“The days of our years are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty years;
yet their pride is but labor and sorrow,
for it passes quickly, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10)

God is eternal; we are not. In the grand scheme of things, our time on earth at best is but a blip on the radar screen. Just go out to Rose Hill Cemetery and walk among the graves. You’ll recognize many of the names, some more notable than others. They all lived at one time or another, made their contribution, however great or small, and died. As Isaiah put it:

“The grass withers, the flower fades;
The Word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)

When it comes to death and dying, we all live with a certain amount of denial. Oh, we know it’s going to happen; still, it’s hard to fathom. Whether we think we’re immune or invincible or that it simply doesn’t apply to us, it’s hard for us to take our mortality seriously. Since the first moment of consciousness this life is all we’ve known; how could it go on without us?

And yet, it will. Life goes on. Only God is eternal. No one knew this better than Isaac Watts, who wrote:

“Time, like an ever-rolling stream, bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream dies at the opening day.
O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come;
Be thou our guide while life shall last and our eternal home.”

So, what can you do about it?

I heard a preacher say one time: “Plan for tomorrow as if you’re going to live forever; live today as it were your last.” Moses prayed simply,

“So teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalms 90:11).

Psalm 39 echoes the thought:

“Yahweh, show me my end,
what is the measure of my days.
Let me know how frail I am” (Psalm 39:4).

Have you ever known someone who had a close call – a brush with death – someone, say, who was in an accident and could’ve been killed but was not – who said, after the fact, “I guess it just wasn’t my time”?

Well, there’s a certain truth to that. It’s found in Psalm 139, where it talks about how God created us and how we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” It goes on to say,

“For you formed my inmost being.
You knit me together in my mother’s womb….
My frame wasn’t hidden from you,
when I was made in secret….
Your eyes saw my body.
In your book they were all written,
the days that were ordained for me,
when as yet there were none of them” (Psalm 139:13-16).

Truth to tell, you may have some notion about how long you’ll live, but, in the end no one knows for sure. You may live many more years; you may die today.

What you need to remember is that you won’t live forever. If you’re smart, you’ll learn to count your days … then do your best to make every day count.

Psalm 90 ends with a petition. Having established the fact that God is eternal and we are but mortal beings, Moses prays:

‘Relent, Yahweh! …
Have compassion on your servants!
Satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days….
Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us;
establish the work of our hands for us;
yes, establish the work of our hands” (Psalm 90:12-17).

What’s ultimately important is not how long you live, but how well you live; and how well you live is not a matter of fame and fortune, but of a deep and abiding relationship with God.

• It’s to wake up in the morning with a prayer on your lips: “Thank you, Lord, for a good night’s rest.”

• It’s to sit down at breakfast praying, “Thank you, Lord, for this food and the blessings of this day.”

• It’s to look for signs of God’s presence throughout the day in the beauty of nature and in the faces of those you meet.

• It’s to encounter trials and tribulations, asking God to show the way.

• It’s to share others’ pain and pray for them, “Lord, have mercy.”

• It’s to sing God’s praise when things go your way, and it’s to sing God’s praise when things don’t go your way… trusting that, if you don’t get what you ask for, God has a better plan; that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord.

• It’s to rejoice in the Lord always, and to pray without ceasing.

• It’s to come to the end of the day taking inventory of everything that’s happened and turning it over to God as an offering of your faithfulness and service.

I said at the outset that it’s a matter of life and death: Living in relationship with God versus being tossed to and fro by the turbulence of the world around you. It’s to walk in the footsteps of Jesus … to follow the leading of his Spirit … to feel his presence within you and about you … to be empowered by his grace and love.

• It begins as you acknowledge your need of him and trust him to be the Lord and Savior of your life.

• It grows as you become more aware of the sacrifice he made to redeem you from your sinful nature and reconcile you to himself.

• It blossoms as you awaken to the fact that the riches of this world pale by comparison to knowing the Lord God Almighty as your closest companion and friend.

But don’t take my word for it. Just ask Austin Miles. He’s the one who penned this beloved old hymn:

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses,
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

I’d stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

Friends, make the Lord your dwelling place, and your life will be complete.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS are from the World English Bible (WEB), a public domain (no copyright) modern English translation of the Holy Bible.

Copyright 2011, Philip McLarty. Used by permission.